4 Apr 2010

Haye stops Ruiz in ninth round

12:04 pm on 4 April 2010

Britain's David Haye has retained his World Boxing Association heavyweight title with a ninth round stoppage of American John Ruiz in Manchester.

The "Hayemaker", making his first title defence, came out blazing at the MEN Arena and had the 38-year-old mandatory challenger on the canvas twice in the opening round.

Ruiz, who has held the belt twice, went down on his knees twice more in the following rounds before his corner threw in the towel for Panamanian referee Guillermo Perez to stop the contest after two minutes and a second of the ninth.

Former cruiserweight champion Haye won the title from Russian giant Nikolai Valuev in November.